Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr., today announced the sentencing of ALEX JEAN, 38, to 75 years-to-life for kidnapping, raping, and trafficking three women. JEAN was convicted by a New York State Supreme Court jury of six counts of Kidnapping in the First Degree, six counts of Predatory Sexual Assault, four counts of Rape in the First Degree, two counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, one count of Attempted Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, three counts of Sex Trafficking, and one count of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree.
“Alex Jean’s trafficking operation was extraordinarily brutal, including a pattern of kidnappings and rapes that were intended to dehumanize these women,” said District Attorney Bragg. “But each was able to escape, and moreover, bravely came forward and testified in open court. I thank them for their inspiring courage, as well as every member of my office that helped put an end to Jean’s crimes.”
As proven at trial, in April 2014, JEAN met the first survivor when she was released from the hospital. JEAN quickly pushed the 19-year-old stranger into an SUV. He raped her at gunpoint and eventually drove her to New Jersey. He cut off the cast on her hand and pulled out metal pins from a previous hand surgery to make her more ‘appealing’ to clients. JEAN set up prostitution ads and trafficked her. He used drugs to control her and other women, and she was often in and out of consciousness. At one point, she was woken up by a man raping her while JEAN held a gun to her head. She was able to escape from a New Jersey motel.
From August 2014 to December 2019, JEAN was incarcerated for a Burglary in the Second Degree conviction that took place in Manhattan.
Months after his release from prison, JEAN met the second survivor, who was escaping a violent relationship in another state. She consented to work for JEAN for a few weeks in order to make enough money to hire an attorney and secure custody of her infant daughter. When she learned that JEAN acted violently toward the other women working for him, she fled. JEAN tracked her down at a hotel where she was working, kidnapped her, and brought her back to his Harlem apartment. Over the course of the next two days, he repeatedly raped her. She was able to escape by convincing him she would be loyal to him and continue working for him.
Both the first and second survivor contacted the Manhattan D.A.’s Office’s Human Trafficking Unit after the Office publicly announced JEAN’s indictment for trafficking the third and final survivor.
JEAN met the third survivor outside of Covenant House, a youth shelter in Midtown, in April 2021. He approached the 19-year-old on the street and offered her a job rolling marijuana joints and blunts. She accepted and went with him to his apartment, where he repeatedly violently raped her. He brought her to a downtown Brooklyn hotel, where she was trafficked and raped by multiple men before she was able to escape.
Assistant D.A.s Marcella Lupski and Tom Kendris handled the prosecution of this case under the supervision of Assistant D.A.s Courtney Razner (Deputy Chief of the Human Trafficking Unit) and Jonathon Junig (Chief of the Human Trafficking Unit), and Executive Assistant D.A. Justin McNabney. Investigative Analysts Alexa Underwood, Mary LeSeur, and Nina Huang , Human Trafficking Clinical Director Melissa Martinez, Investigator Sean Ryan, and Investigator Ariela DaSilva provided invaluable assistance.
District Attorney Bragg thanked Detective Joseph Azevedo of the NYPD Human Trafficking Squad and Detective Andre Arias of the Manhattan Special Victims Squad.
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